1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to aircraft systems management and more particularly to an extension of the system described and claimed in our U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,503 entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus for Avionics Managementxe2x80x9d issued Dec. 1, 1998 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. (Referred to herein as the 503 patent). In the 503 patent, a system, usable with a flight management computer, is presented using a plurality of commands (action, target and parameter words) formed in air traffic control syntax to provide the computer with an input necessary to accomplish the commands. In the 503 patent, the computer operates to interpret a number of words in each category of command to enable the control of various aircraft functions such as airspeed, altitude etc. The disclosure contained in the 503 patent is incorporated here by reference. Reference should also be had to a co-pending application entitled Aircraft Utility Systems and Control Integration, Ser. No. 08/721, 818 filed Sep. 27, 1996 (herein referred to as the 818 application) and a co-pending application entitled Automated Aircraft Ser. No. 09/042057 filed Mar. 13, 1998, (herein referred to as the 057 application) both in the name of Douglas G. Endrud and both assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
The present invention utilizes a control language dissimilar to the language of the 503 patent in that it is not in air traffic control syntax but is in an easily understandable form for both human and computer so as to quickly and accurately provide human understanding while enabling the computer to perform specific control functions associated with interior aircraft operations such as cabin temperature, cabin pressure and the like. Also included in the present invention is a xe2x80x9cparserxe2x80x9d which is used to assemble the inputs made by the aircraft personnel into the proper syntax for use by the computer and to determine the properness of the commands.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Present day aircraft utilities management systems utilize a plurality of control knobs and switches to manage the interior operations of the aircraft. (See, for example, FIG. 1 of the 818 application). Utilizing a plurality of knobs and switches to change interior operations of the aircraft, the pilot must find the control knob or switch for the desired operation and turn or switch it to the desire setting. This requires a search and a manual operation usually deflecting the pilot""s eyes from the control panel and/or a view of the surrounding air space for considerable time periods. One solution to this problem is found in the 818 application and in the 057 application.
The present invention draws upon the teachings of the above co-pending applications to establish a yet more simplified way to perform the desired control. More particularly, the present invention uses a control language, which is recognizable in common syntax for use in accomplishing changes and settings to the interior aircraft control functions in a rapid manner. While the specific language of the possible instructions may vary from pilot to pilot, the present invention employs a parser which is programmed to interpret various alternate ways of expression, recognize predetermined cue words, and place the instruction in a preferred form which will be acceptable for the computer to understand and perform the commands. One function of the parser is to categorize the pilot input into a relatively small number of sub instructions falling into xe2x80x9csystemxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cactionxe2x80x9d and/or xe2x80x9ctargetxe2x80x9d categories. xe2x80x9cSystemsxe2x80x9d may be considered the aircraft system (e.g. cabin temperature, overhead light, pressure, etc.) upon which some action is desired. xe2x80x9cActionsxe2x80x9d may be thought of as verbs (e.g. connect, raise, open, select, etc.), and prepositions (to, between, from, above, etc.) and in some cases merely xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d. xe2x80x9cTargetsxe2x80x9d are the units or conditions of some of the nouns (pounds, degrees, feet, on, off, etc.). Sentences made up of these commands are put in a format which the computer and the human operator will recognize. If, for example, the pilot desired to change the aft cabin temperature to 80 degrees, he might enter xe2x80x9caft cabin temperature to 80 degreesxe2x80x9d. The Parser would recognize xe2x80x9caft cabinxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ctemperaturexe2x80x9d as a system to be acted on and would be programmed to assume that a change in aft cabin temperature was desired since that is all that could happen. The parser would also recognize xe2x80x9c80xe2x80x9d and would be programmed to assume that this was the desired new temperature and that it was in Fahrenheit degrees (or if desired, in Centigrade). Accordingly, the simplified command xe2x80x9cAft Cabin Temp To 80 Degreesxe2x80x9d would be understood by computer and by the pilot to indicate the desired change in cabin temperature. Even the word xe2x80x9cToxe2x80x9d could be omitted since it would be presumed and other words such as xe2x80x9catxe2x80x9d might also be presumed depending on the context.
It is desirable that the command which the pilot enters appear on a display, located on the control panel (preferably in an anti-glare area such as near the navigation display) so as to minimize the distraction. In order to produce this display a keyboard, cursor control device, speech recognition equipment or other I/O device may be employed. When the command is complete and clear, the parser need do no more than revise it for the computer""s use but, in some cases, the operator might enter a partial command, which the parser would not completely recognize. For example, the pilot might enter a partial command such as xe2x80x9ctemperaturexe2x80x9d and the parser would interpret the xe2x80x9ctemperaturexe2x80x9d command as requiring a change to a desired or new temperature but would not know what portion of the aircraft was involved nor the desired temperature. Accordingly, the parser would cause a menu to appear listing the various items where the temperature could be made to change. One of these would be xe2x80x9caft cabin temperaturexe2x80x9d which the pilot would then select and this phrase would be displayed. The parser would still not know the desired new temperature and might then display xe2x80x9center desired new temperaturexe2x80x9d which would result in the pilot entering xe2x80x9c80 degreesxe2x80x9d, which would then be displayed. Upon recognition of a valid executable command string, the system would allow the pilot to enter the xe2x80x9cgoxe2x80x9d command, causing the computer to command the temperature utility control to produce the desired change. If the pilot merely entered xe2x80x9caft cabinxe2x80x9d, the parser would interpret this to require some change in a condition of the aft cabin, in which case, the parser might cause a menu showing the various conditions (temperature, lighting, pressure, etc.) and again the pilot would select xe2x80x9caft cabin temperaturexe2x80x9d and cause this phrase to be displayed. Alternately, the pilot may wish to reduce the number of keystrokes required and simply enter the letter xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d and all of the functions starting with the letter xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d would be displayed on the menu. The pilot would then scroll down to select xe2x80x9caft cabin temperaturexe2x80x9d which would again be displayed.
The parser may also be programmed to recognize an action command such as xe2x80x9cincreasexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdecreasexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cchangexe2x80x9d or simply xe2x80x9ctoxe2x80x9d which the pilot would enter. Alternately, in the case of most of the systems in an aircraft, a change can be expressed merely by the word xe2x80x9ctoxe2x80x9d. Since the only action involving the cabin temperature is to change it, the parser would automatically insert the word xe2x80x9ctoxe2x80x9d after the xe2x80x9caft cabin temperaturexe2x80x9d in sending the message to the computer. The next step would be to enter the parameter command which in this case would be the desired temperature in degrees (generally in Fahrenheit). Accordingly, the pilot would enter xe2x80x9c80xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c80 degreesxe2x80x9d, and the parser would send xe2x80x9c80xc2x0xe2x80x9d to the computer. Both the computer and the pilot are able to understand this command xe2x80x9caft cabin temperature to 80 degreesxe2x80x9d so that when the pilot is satisfied from the monitor that the desired commands is correct, he may activate the xe2x80x9cgoxe2x80x9d command on the control panel, as for example pressing a xe2x80x9cgoxe2x80x9d button and the desired action will be programmed in the proper syntax to the computer which will then operate on these commands and produce outputs which will cause the desired action to be accomplished utilizing the existing control equipment on the aircraft. It would also be desirable to have the flight management commands be synchronized with the interior aircraft functions so that, for example, the command xe2x80x9ccabin lights off below 1000 feetxe2x80x9d would be accomplished. Here it is seen that both flight control functions and cabin functions are combined into a single commanded string that associates utility functions with a flight path state.
If the pilot erred and forgot to enter the xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d after xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d, another function of the parser would be to know that the cabin temperature should never be xe2x80x9c8 degreesxe2x80x9d and would alert the pilot to the error. Actually, the parser will recognize that commands are entered in sequence and will not take the entry of an xe2x80x9c8xe2x80x9d as an error until it is clear that the full command has been in putted. The parser can be thought of as having a xe2x80x9csyntaxxe2x80x9d function useful in setting pilot commands in proper form for the computer and having a xe2x80x9csemanticxe2x80x9d function useful in establishing complete and sensible input commands and detecting errors. In all cases, the display would soon read xe2x80x9caft cabin temp to 80 degreesxe2x80x9d, after which the pilot would activate the xe2x80x9cgoxe2x80x9d button to cause the now proper syntax and semantic command to be entered into the computer for execution.
It can be seen that the ability to encapsulate both flight path and utility functions into a single command environment provides a very powerful tool for automating checklists and utility management procedures. Systems covered include electrical, hydraulic, environment, lighting, bleed air, propulsion, fuel sensors, pressurization, communication, etc.